The U.S. might run out of avocados in three weeks if Donald Trump follows through on his threat to close the border with Mexico, but the U.S. auto industry could shut down even more quickly—within a week, according to one expert, because basically every car made in the U.S. includes parts made in Mexico.
“You can't sell cars with missing pieces,” the Center for Automotive Research’s Kristin Dziczek told CNN. “You've got to have them all. I see the whole industry shutdown within a week of a border closing.” Some of the imported pieces are installed at the beginning of the production process, so, for instance, “You can't build the whole car and slap the wire harness in later. This is a big critical part that shuts down the assembly line if you don't have it.”
That means that workers in auto assembly plants would be out of work, and workers in U.S. car parts plants would follow, since with assembly plants shut down, parts plants would be idled, too. We’re talking about an economic catastrophe for as many as a million workers, with a ripple effect throughout their communities.
This devastating possibility brought to you by Donald Trump’s racist fearmongering.
